September 16, 2025

EPS at 55.40$

In the long term, the over $20bn share buyback program should also provide returns

https://s201.q4cdn.com/865305287/files/doc_financials/2025/q2/BKNG-Q2-2025-Earnings-Press-Release-7-29-25.pdf

US companies plan share buybacks on a historic scalewhich is a sign of the American economy's confidence in the economy. Nvidia Corp is the latest company to join the long list of buyback plans.

The announced buybacks exceeded the 1 trillion US dollars reaching this level in a very short time, according to data from Birinyi Associates. The previous record was set in October last year.

In recent months, corporate giants - particularly in the areas of finance and technology - have given the green light for extensive share buyback programs.

$AAPL (-0,72%)

$GOOGL (-1,18%)

$NVDA (+2,02%)

$JPM (-0,55%)

$GS (-0,25%)

$WFC (-0,78%)

$BAC (+0,18%)

$V (+0,21%)

$C (-0,77%)

$BKNG (-1,98%)

Source: https://www.moneyweb.co.za/news/markets/us-firms-racing-through-1trn-buyback-spree-in-record-time/

$MS (+0,01%)

$BKNG (-1,98%)

The biggest growth drivers are additional services alongside hotel bookings.

The number of transactions in the "Connected Trip" segment increased by 30% year-on-year in the second quarter and now accounts for more than a tenth of the Group's business.

Booking.com defines Connected Trip as all additional services such as flights, rental cars, cabs and attractions. Flight bookings developed particularly strongly with growth of 44% and activities and attractions with growth of over 100%.

This contributed to a 16% increase in revenue and a 32% increase in profit in the second quarter.

Free cash flow climbed by 32 % to USD 3.1 billion per share.

At USD 55.40 per share, earnings were well above expectations of USD 50.60. With sales of USD 6.80 billion, the company also exceeded analysts' estimates of USD 6.52 billion.

Massive share buybacks

Booking has used the current income to buy back its own shares for USD 1.3 billion Aktienwhich corresponds to around 0.77 % of the market capitalization. At first glance, that doesn't sound like much. But if this happens every quarter, the impact over time is considerable.

In the last ten years, the number of outstanding shares has been reduced from 51 million to 33 million, which has significantly increased earnings per share.

This is likely to continue in a similar way. Under the current buyback program, a further USD 24.6 billion is available for share buybacks. This would currently be enough to cancel 4.4 million shares.

In addition, since last year the company has been paying a Dividende.

Would you like a little more?

The consensus estimates for the current financial year are for a jump in earnings of 18% to USD 221 per share.

Booking therefore has a forward P/E of 25.3, which is easily justifiable in view of the high growth rates and the characteristics of the business model. Over the long term, the P/E has hovered around 25.6.

However, as earnings rose by 22% in the first quarter and 32% in the second quarter, it is likely that the estimates are too low. This is also supported by the Management Board's statements that momentum has picked up again since the end of May.

If Booking exceeds expectations again in the next two quarters, this will result in corresponding upside potential.

Booking share: Chart from 30.07.2025, price: USD 5,590 - symbol: BKNG | Source: TWS

The risk/reward ratio would be even better in the event of a correction. Although there is no tangible reason for prices to fall, if the market as a whole comes under pressure, Booking is very likely to come back. Possible starting points for a correction are USD 5,260 - 5,333 and USD 4,650.

At the relevant lows since 2020, the P/E was between 19 and 22, which would currently correspond to a price of USD 4,199 - 4,862.

However, if the share breaks out above USD 5,750, a procyclical uptrend will occur. Kaufsignal with extrapolated price targets of USD 6,000 and USD 6,250.

https://www.lynxbroker.de/boerse/boerse-kurse/aktien/booking-aktie/booking-analyse/?a=3355991664&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-boersenblick&newsletter=true&mc-rss-cache-bypass=2025073106&goal=0_d93daae099-3a9ad1a854-410756260#mehr-als-reisen-so-baut-booking-ein-digitales-reise-imperium

$BKNG (-1,98%)

How many billions can we expect?

Incredible performance from $BKNG (-1,98%)

The purchase is from last year, for reference.

I love BKNG and believe that it is still fair value today.

still fair value today.

Looking forward to the first stock split.

It is April 2020, and I am a young and hopeful student who has been studying the theory of financial education for several years and decide to take advantage of the supposedly unique opportunity of the "crash" to finally enter the stock market despite limited capital.

Theoretically, the idea was that it should be easy to get in during a difficult market phase, as all assets should be cheap due to the uncertainty. At least cheaper than they were before. When markets fall, multiples fall too. So even if you don't get everything right or even get a lot wrong, from a purely mathematical point of view you should still be better off than someone who got in in 2018 or 2019. So far, this logic is actually conclusive.

But the pandemic crash was not a normal crash. And I actually find it far too interesting not to talk about it.

In my experience, there is still a lot of talk today about the new markets in 2001 and the real estate bubble in 2008. However, the exciting market phase of the pandemic has hardly been looked back on at all. This may also be due to the fact that we don't feel we can look back at it yet, as we can still feel the effects and have barely really overcome them. However, it is now slowly becoming apparent that a new era has dawned on the market, which is primarily about tariffs, trade deficits and currencies.

But what makes the pandemic a bad time to start?

If you look back at the charts of some securities (and for the sake of clarity, I would like to refer mainly to equities here), you can see several things.

In the case of shares with a gravitas such as $BRK.B (-0,47%) only a tiny corona dent can be seen on the long-term chart. From this you can see that it didn't really matter when you invested. However, the earlier the better. It was important to invest at all, but it was not necessary to wait for a specific point in time. However, this even applies to clear pandemic losers such as $BKNG (-1,98%) and $EVD (-0,42%) .

For some stocks like $AMZN (+0,77%) and $MSFT (+0,56%) the entry point during the actual crash was not ideal. There was an optimal entry point for both stocks recently, but this would not have been apparent until 2-3 years after the crash. Both stocks survived the pandemic almost unscathed, but were then affected by severe secondary factors that put the business under pressure.

Stocks like $TMO (-0,77%) or $AFX (-0,09%) were considered pandemic winners. You could have picked them up at the beginning of the crash ... or you could have left them alone and got them back 5 years later at exactly the same price as before the pandemic started.

And now the worst category: hype stocks. The absolute catastrophe happened to all those who were looking for opportunities where there were actually none. Whether investments in emerging markets or hopes for the future in $ZM (-1,22%) and $FVRR (-0,35%) - Money that was taken out of the broad market ended up largely concentrated in assets that will not reach their ATH for another 20 years. Anyone wanting to be in it for the long term found their Waterloo in the pandemic. Some companies such as $EUZ (+1,32%) or $SRT (+0,63%) may well be doing great things. But here the "crash" was simply the absolute worst entry opportunity of the entire decade.

Correction Edit: I only found a group of stocks that I really needed to buy in the crash and that was Big Oil. There were certainly other stocks that were a bit cheaper at the time. But for the most part, it was not essential to enter at the low point in order to make good returns. That is what made this market phase so difficult. The good stocks were NOT extremely cheap, but there were many bad stocks that were extremely expensive. For newcomers, such a situation is incredibly difficult to navigate.

I closed 2020 with +12% and 2021 with +8% only to get a -22% in 2022. So I didn't make any returns at all in the first 3 years and just paid a lesson.

I thought I would have been smart at least not to have entered in 2018/2019 when all shares were valued much higher on average. But I might have gained experience in these two years so that I would have had more guidance in 2020. Or I could have started in 2022/2023, when there were no more hype stocks and you could pour money into the market with a watering can and it almost always turned into a flower.

I recently saw the portfolio of a friend who restarted his portfolio in 2022. Almost the same portfolio size as mine. However, while I have made 7% p.a. since the start of my portfolio, he has an IZF of 15%. With a portfolio size of 100k, this means that I am sitting on €12,000 book profits and he on €33,000

Backtests are currently showing that my strategy has really put me to sleep and put me to sleep by ALL known and common indices over 5 years. The only consolation here is really the 3-year performance, where it is clear that I can keep up with the major indices and also leave a few big names behind me.

So on a positive note: I'm getting better.

I have been watching Booking Holdings ($BKNG (-1,98%)) for around two years and hesitated for a long time. Despite the higher share price (~+50%), I now see an attractive entry point. The decisive factor for me is the clear vision of the management to expand the offering beyond pure accommodation ("Connected Trips": flights, attractions, etc.) and to use AI strategically. As a result, I see $BKNG (-1,98%) strongly positioned to grow further and assert itself as the market leader. The solid balance sheet and significant share buybacks and dividends are very positive in my opinion and give me additional confidence.